A La Puente man is suing Bank of America for discrimination after he said he entered the Hacienda Heights branch on May 15 and was told by a bank employee he could not open an eBanking account because the bank did not serve his kind of people.

Ricardo Vazques, 26, claims he was taken to Shirley L. Huang, assistant vice president and senior banker, by a friendly employee and explained to Huang he would like to open an eBanking Checking Account. But Huang told him: “I don’t open that account for your type of people,” according to the lawsuit.

The suit says Huang then turned to Vazques and said words to the effect: “Do you even have a valid Social Security number?”

When Vazques said he did have a valid Social Security number, Huang then told him he was too old to open an eBanking Checking Account and denied his request, the lawsuit contends.

In a counter filing on Aug. 30, Bank of America and Huang denied the claim and every allegation made by Vazques in his complaint. The bank denied that the corporation or its employees are guilty of “any wrongful- conduct or omission” and that neither Bank of America, nor the defendant “caused any injury or damage” to Vazques.

The bank’s attorney, Matthew J. Esposito of Severson & Werson, a law firm in Irvine, also asked that the case be quashed. His motion is scheduled to be heard April 11, according to court records.

“The bank does not illegally discriminate against customers or potential customers and did not do so here,” said Betty Riess, spokeswoman for Bank of America.

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Vazques is asking for $4,000 in monetary damages and that the bank require branch employees to attend ethnic and racial sensitivity training in an effort to prevent this from happening again, said his attorney, Gerald S. Ohn of Century City.

“The main part of our complaint is racial and ethnic discrimination,” Ohn said during a phone interview. “The message is you are inferior or you don’t belong here. It harkens back to old racism we’ve had in this country in which the person does not feel equal to other citizens. It is very demeaning.”

Vazques was born in the United States and has lived all of his life in Southern California, Ohn said. He said he is a student.

Vazques said he has never filed a civil rights case before.

“No. It is the first time,” he said during a brief phone interview Thursday. He would not talk about what was said between him and the branch senior banker.

According to the court complaint, the first employee later told Vazques that “similar incidents had occurred before with Defendant Huang and Hispanic individuals.” The branch is located at 2101 S. Hacienda Blvd, Hacienda Heights.

In the bank’s answer to the court, it denied that allegation.

Vazques is contending that the bank is in violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act, a state law that says any business establishment cannot discriminate against a potential customer based on race, ethnicity, nationality, color or sexual orientation.

Punitive damages in cases of racial discrimination can be left up to a jury to decide. They can amount to more than a million dollars, Ohn said.

“We have not received any kind of a settlement offer. We are preparing for trial,” Ohn said.

This story has been updated from an earlier version to add a statement from Bank of America spokeswoman Betty Riess.